Chapter 29 Kemmerich (4300 in )
Lu Mingfei and his companions finally walked back to the camp, exhausted, as if every step was consuming their remaining strength. The dry soil rustled under their feet.
The first thing they did when they returned to the camp was to take their lunch boxes and walk to the canteen. They had forgotten how long it had been since they had a hot meal.
They lined up to come to the canteen. Someone had told the canteen in advance that a company would be withdrawing, so they were asked to prepare food and supplies in advance. The busy figures of the cooks shuttled back and forth in the kitchen, and the clattering of pots and pans seemed particularly abrupt in the quiet air.
Lu Mingfei and his friends lined up, but the cook was slow to open the pot and distribute food to them. Steam came out from the gap in the pot lid, and the aroma filled the air.
"Hey, isn't it time to distribute the food?" Kaczynski was already getting a little impatient, his brows were furrowed and his eyes were sharp.
The aroma coming from the pot in front of the cook aroused the worms in their stomachs. The aroma was mixed with the rich fragrance of stewed meat and the fresh fragrance of beans, which made them swallow their saliva.
"I have to wait until all of you are here before I can start distributing food." The cook shook his head and said firmly.
"But we are all here." Paul was getting impatient. He wanted to just take the pot in front of the cook away. The lunch box in his hand was shaking slightly.
"You are all here, but what about the others? Didn't they say that a company retreated?" The cook still refused to open the pot, his eyes wandering among the crowd.
"If you mean the Second Company, then we are all here. The others are either in the cemetery or in the hospital. You don't have to worry about their meals." Kropp said with a grin.
"What? But I cooked enough food for at least a hundred people!" The cook was stunned when he heard the news. He heard from his superiors that a company would withdraw from the front line. He thought that a company had more than 150 people, and if some died on the front line, there should be about a hundred people left.
I didn't expect the war to be so fierce that only less than a platoon of soldiers from a company survived. He stood there in a daze, not knowing where to put the spoon in his hand.
"So, you also took bread for a hundred people!" Paul said excitedly, and finally a smile appeared on his face.
"Yes." The cook nodded, looking a little helpless.
"And sausages, too?"
"Yes." The cook continued to nod.
"Cigarettes too!?"
“Everything.”
"Brothers, we are so lucky! These things are prepared by us, and each of us can receive three times the supplies!" Paul danced with excitement, as if he had forgotten the fatigue and cruelty of war for a moment.
"That won't do!" The cook then realized what they were trying to do.
"What's wrong with that?" Lu Mingfei and the others surrounded the cook, and Kaczynski asked loudly, his voice full of anxiety and anger.
"These things are prepared for one hundred people. I don't care about the food, you can eat as much as you want, but I can only provide supplies for thirty-two people." The cook said stubbornly, with a hint of unshakable determination in his tone.
"Can't you be more magnanimous to us soldiers who have just escaped death? You have to know that you are not receiving supplies for thirty-two people, but for the entire Second Company. We are the entire Second Company, do you understand?" Kaczynski was so angry at this stubborn cook that he almost smoked and his face turned red.
"No!" No matter what, the cook refused to give in. He held the spatula tightly in his hand, as if it was his last line of defense.
Kaczynski and Lu Mingfei looked at each other, wondering whether they should just beat up the cook and then snatch the supplies.
"What's going on?" At this time, their company commander Bell saw what was happening here and walked over, scanning everyone with a serious look.
"Sir! We have prepared supplies for a hundred people today but there are only thirty-two people here, and these people want to take all the supplies away!" The cook saw the company commander coming and immediately reported with a hint of grievance in his voice.
After the company commander understood the reason for their quarrel, he pondered for a moment, then looked at Lu Mingfei and the others, then at the big pot in front of the cook and said, "The beans in the pot look good."
"These are cooked together with the meat." Hearing the company commander praising his cooking, the cook puffed out his chest with some pride, a smug smile on his face.
"We have suffered heavy losses on the front line, and we haven't had a hot meal for a long time. Let's distribute all these things, and the supplies too," said the company commander. He had always felt guilty that only so many of his soldiers were left after their deaths.
"Yeah!!!" Hearing the company commander's words, Lu Mingfei and the others all cheered excitedly.
"But..." The cook was still a little hesitant.
"There's nothing to worry about. Just follow the order!" the company commander said decisively, without any room for doubt in his voice.
"Yes..." The cook began to pound the beans in the pot reluctantly, and his hands seemed a little stiff.
"You miser, why are you so stingy when it's not yours?" Paul said sarcastically as he handed his lunch box to the cook, with a smug smile on his face.
Hearing Paul's words, the cook became so angry that his face turned red. He almost hit Paul on the head with a spoon, and a trace of anger flashed in his eyes.
"You don't understand this. No one will check how many of these unclaimed supplies are left, so he can secretly put the cigarettes that should be given to us into his own pocket." Kropp also handed his lunch box to the cook, and his ridicule became even more intense.
The cook was so angry that his hand holding the spoon was shaking, and his eyes were filled with anger and unwillingness.
"What's the matter? Why is it so noisy?" At this time, a person walked in from the back of the kitchen and asked impatiently, with a hint of majesty in his voice.
"The Quartermaster General!" The person who came in was the Quartermaster General who was in charge of supplies. He was probably very angry with Paul and Kropp just now. The cook couldn't wait to report to the Quartermaster General, telling him everything that had just happened and even exaggerated it.
After hearing the cook's report, the quartermaster said, "The supplies in the camp are not that abundant. Thirty-two people should receive supplies for thirty-two people."
The quartermaster was in charge of all the supplies in the camp. Since he had spoken, there was nothing the company commander could do to change anything. Just when everyone thought that the matter was over and were a little disappointed, the quartermaster was suddenly stunned when he saw Lu Mingfei.
"Are you... the soldier who braved the fire to get food?" The quartermaster recognized Lu Mingfei. He was also present the night Lu Mingfei came. He had a deep impression of this soldier who combined luck, courage and strong will.
"Yes, it's me." Lu Mingfei nodded calmly. He didn't think this matter was a big deal and almost forgot about it completely.
"I didn't expect you to be alive. We all thought you died on the way back. You carried so much food and actually made it back alive. It's amazing." The quartermaster looked at Lu Mingfei and sighed, with a trace of admiration in his eyes. "We have tried to send people to the front line to transport food before, but all failed." The quartermaster thought for a moment and turned to the cook and said, "Give them everything, and give each person an extra piece of cheese. Don't let our heroic young men starve. They are the future of this country."
"Yes." The cook replied somewhat aggrievedly. He gave up on himself and took a spoon to fill Lu Mingfei and the others' lunch boxes with a full spoonful of food, which was almost overflowing, while he was still mumbling.
"Eat, eat, and eat until you die of fullness."
But Lu Mingfei and his friends didn't pay any attention to the cook's grumbling. They were in a very good mood when they heard that they could not only get three times the supplies but also an extra piece of cheese.
But when Lu Mingfei heard the quartermaster calling them heroic young men, he almost couldn't help laughing out loud. How could a man like him, whose soul had already begun to decay, still be called a young man?
Lu Mingfei and Paul found an open space outside and sat down with their lunch boxes that were almost overflowing. They put the bread and sausages that had just been distributed into their backpacks for storage. The bean soup was enough for them to eat for the whole day.
They patted their bulging pockets, which were filled with cigarettes and cigars, and were all contented. They didn't know how long it had been since they had been so comfortable as they were now. There was no shelling, no stench from rotting corpses, enough food to make them vomit, and cigarettes to smoke all day long. They felt that this place was like heaven, so beautiful that it seemed unreal.
"Has anyone of you seen Kemmerich?" Lu Mingfei looked around but couldn't see Kemmerich. He hadn't seen Kemmerich since yesterday and didn't know where he had gone.
"Kemmerich is now in St. Joseph's Hospital. It seems that Himmelstoss carried him there." Paul said.
"What's wrong with him?" Lu Mingfei asked worriedly when he heard Kemmerich entered the hospital.
"He was shot in the leg." Paul was a little depressed when talking about Kemmerich.
"Don't worry, getting hit in the leg might be a good thing. He can go home now." Klopp comforted him.
"Let's go see him together later." Lu Mingfei suggested.
Everyone else nodded. They planned to go visit Kemmerich after dinner. Lu Mingfei wrapped up the extra piece of cheese and planned to bring it to Kemmerich later.
Before going to see Kemmerich they packed up all his things so that he could go straight home.
The hospital was filled with a strange smell. Even people like Lu Mingfei, who were used to the smell of corpses, still felt uncomfortable when they smelled it.
The doctors and nurses in the hospital were all very busy. They spoke very fast and even jogged as they walked, constantly moving between different wards. The painful wails in these wards never stopped for a moment.
Finally, Lu Mingfei and his team found Kemmerich in a very large ward. The ward was full of beds, but there were even more injured people. Some soldiers with less serious injuries could only lie on the floor or in the corridor.
Kemmerich's baby face on the hospital bed looked extremely pale and weak, as if a gust of wind could blow him away. When he saw Lu Mingfei and the others coming over, he smiled a smile that was uglier than crying.
"What's the situation, Kemmerich..." When Lu Mingfei saw Kemmerich like this, he felt something stuck in his throat.
It’s not that Lu Mingfei has never seen people die, but rather that he has seen too many people die. He thought he had become indifferent to life and death, but when he saw his friend Kemmerich dying, he was very sad, sadder than ever.
"Hans, someone stole my watch while I was unconscious." Kemmerich's voice was tearful. That was the watch his mother gave him. He had always cherished it very much. Whenever he missed home, he would touch the watch on his hand.
"I told you a long time ago not to bring such a good watch to the battlefield." Paul said from the side, his expression also very sad.
"It's okay, Kemmerich, we will find your watch." Lu Mingfei comforted.
"They...they...also sawed off my legs..." Having said this, Kemmerich finally couldn't help crying.
Lu Mingfei and the others actually noticed at the beginning that Kemmerich was missing one of his legs, but they didn't dare to mention it.
"It's okay, Kemmerich. You can go home now. Didn't you want to be a forest ranger? You can be a forest ranger even if you lose a leg. We brought all your things with you. You can go home directly after the truck that transports the wounded arrives in a few days." Lu Mingfei continued to comfort him.
But he himself did not believe these words. He knew very well that Kemmerich might not be able to leave the ward. His wound was infected. In this era before the advent of penicillin, wound infection was not much different from death.
"Yeah." After hearing Lu Mingfei's words, Kemmerich seemed to be in a better mood.
"Hans, my feet hurt so much." Kemmerich began to howl in pain as the effect of the anesthetic began to wear off.
"Wait, let's go find a doctor." Lu Mingfei and his team stopped a doctor outside, gave him most of the cigarettes they had, and asked him to give Kemmerich an injection of morphine.
After taking an injection of morphine, Kemmerich finally felt less pain. Everyone else left, leaving Lu Mingfei alone with Kemmerich. They agreed that everyone would take turns to take care of Kemmerich.
As the sky gradually darkened, Kemmerich began to have a fever and became increasingly weaker.
"Hans, am I dying?" Kemmerich said weakly.
"No, Kemmerich, you will be transferred to the rear hospital in two days, and then everything will be fine. You can go and look after your mother's oranges. Every year when the oranges are ripe, we will visit your home." Lu Mingfei looked at Kemmerich, who was curled up like a child, and tried hard not to let his tears flow.
Kemmerich was one of his few friends here. He still remembered the day he first set out, when Kemmerich's mother begged him so desperately to take care of Kemmerich on the battlefield. But he couldn't even take care of himself on the battlefield, so how could he take care of Kemmerich?
He didn't know how to face that fat and kind-hearted woman. When he thought of her, Lu Mingfei felt a surge of fear in his heart. He would not feel this way even when facing the overwhelming artillery fire.
"Hans... If you find the watch, please send it to my home and I will give you my boots... I noticed that your boots don't fit you very well. My shoes are the same size as yours, so you should be able to wear them... Also, please say sorry to my mother for me..." Kemmerich's voice became weaker and weaker.
"You'll be fine, Kemmerich... Doctor! Doctor! Come quickly! Kemmerich is almost dying!" Lu Mingfei looked at Kemmerich, whose breathing was already difficult, and immediately rushed out of the ward and shouted to a doctor passing by.
I originally wanted to finish writing this paragraph directly, but I still thought too highly of myself.
Thanks to Peng Gao for the 200 points reward
Thanks to the supplier Fugui for the 100 points reward
Thanks to Wanwujing for feeding you a monthly ticket
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Thanks to A Certain Scientific Railgun for the monthly ticket
Thanks to Diabolus for the monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)
